All you ever wanted to know about paper shredders, and then some. Avoid Identity Theft start shredding everything today!Wednesday, October 26, 2005
Paper Shredder Safety Alert
CPSC Document # 5127
Paper Shredder Safety Alert
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) wants you and your family to be safe if you have a paper shredder. From January 2000 through December 2003, CPSC received 31 reports involving finger amputations, lacerations, and other finger injuries from paper shredders. The majority of injuries were to young children, ages 14 months to 2 years old. Young children are interested in imitating adult activities. This puts children at risk of injury. Children may activate the shredder when an adult is not present. Injuries can occur even when an adult is supervising a child. Children’s fingers can be pulled into the paper shredding mechanism if they don’t let the paper go.CPSC offers the following safety tips when using a paper shredder:
- Never allow children to operate paper shredders, even under adult supervision. Paper shredders can pull children’s fingers into the shredder mechanism.
- Place the paper shredder in an area less accessible to children.
- Unplug the paper shredder power cord when not in use.
- Do not place hands or fingers in the shredder.
- Do not operate a paper shredder while wearing loose fitting clothing that may enter the shredder opening.
- If wearing a tie or long necklace, use caution to keep these items away from the shredder opening.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of serious injury or death from more than 15,000 types of consumer products under the agency's jurisdiction. Deaths, injuries and property damage from consumer product incidents cost the nation more than $700 billion annually. The CPSC is committed to protecting consumers and families from products that pose a fire, electrical, chemical, or mechanical hazard or can injure children. The CPSC's work to ensure the safety of consumer products - such as toys, cribs, power tools, cigarette lighters, and household chemicals - contributed significantly to the 30 percent decline in the rate of deaths and injuries associated with consumer products over the past 30 years.
To report a dangerous product or a product-related injury, call CPSC's hotline at (800) 638-2772 or CPSC's teletypewriter at (800) 638-8270, or visit CPSC's web site at www.cpsc.gov/talk.html. To join a CPSC email subscription list, please go to www.cpsc.gov/cpsclist.asp. Consumers can obtain this release and recall information at CPSC's Web site at www.cpsc.gov.
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